Canes Makes Most of ‘Uptown’ Mashed Potatoes

George and Piret Munger’s new eatery is called Canes, which gives a quick idea of the sort of item that George Munger, who does limp on occasion (but stoutly denies that he suffers from gout), has spent some time collecting. Canes may constitute a curious and novel motif for a restaurant, or for a “California bistro,” as this place bills itself, but groupings of them hang at regular intervals on the walls, rather like coats of arms in an Old English pub.

Most have carved handles that resemble ducks, dog’s heads and other, more arcane representations; one delightful piece displayed above the bar extends into a fishing pole, a practical device indeed for the country gentleman afflicted with lumbago.

The thrust of the place has nothing to do with the decorations, however, even though Canes abounds in them, with many fine architectural studies of classical buildings hung among the canes, and canvas table tops painted in vague, bright patterns that, by intention or otherwise, seem a throwback to the street art of the late 1960s.

To grasp the essence of Canes, it is necessary to work through an equation whose solution is mashed potatoes. These highly seasoned, almost elastic-textured spuds appear repeatedly and underscore the rugged, hard-edged tone of the menu.

These might be called “uptown” mashed potatoes, and they illuminate the manner in which Canes’ avant-garde look relates to its setting in the new Uptown District development in Hillcrest, a kind of instant urban neighborhood that imitates streets in New York and San Francisco by locating restaurants and shops on the ground floors of residential buildings.

To tie into this environment, the Mungers have designed an instant neighborhood cafe that combines simple but aggressively flavored cooking with moderate prices and a trendy, uptown atmosphere. The menu repeats from lunch to dinner and most entree-sized items are priced below $10.

The Canes menu does share some items with Piret’s and PiretM, the Mungers’ signature restaurants in La Jolla Village Square and Encinitas, but is by no means a carbon. It fires its opening shot with focaccia , or roasted country-style bread served with a sauce of cheese, tomato, olives and garlic, hurries along to a likeable roulade of sliced eggplant rolled around sun-dried tomatoes and feta cheese and shoots another salvo with mashed potatoes cloaked in cheese sauce.

Canes almost certainly is the only local restaurant to offer mashed potatoes as an appetizer; rather less unusual are such choices as prosciutto and grilled scallops in a roasted pepper sauce, a soup of tomato and bread and klodniak , a cold soup of Baltic origin that combines shrimp, cucumber and buttermilk. A chicken salad dressed with yogurt, melon and nuts and a grilled chicken breast with greens and vegetables serve as light entrees. All pastas and entrees include an excellent house salad of greens dressed with chopped bacon, nuts, olives and sharp and mild cheeses.

The extensive selection of designer pizzas, all with one or more cheeses, goes as far as a cabbage and pancetta (belly bacon) combo, but also includes George Munger’s favorite, a traditional pepperoni pie that, when ordered cold (two slices for $3), takes on the name “breakfast pizza.” Other choices include a tomato-less “white” pizza garnished with garlic and olive oil; a combination of grilled, marinated beef with peppers and onions, and a novelty garnished with stewed chicken and sun-dried tomatoes that would taste a little less like a hot chicken sandwich without gravy were the tomatoes more generously apportioned.

By modern definition, a restaurant of this sort must not only offer plenty of pasta choices, but at least several unusual ones. In this category would be such things as the “tequila chicken” pasta with hot and sweet peppers, and linguine with grilled lamb and sun-dried tomatoes. The spaghetti with garlic, sausage and roasted peppers--to which daredevils may add anchovies for an extra 50 cents--is more in the mainstream, as are the penne with garlic and Gorgonzola cheese, the pasta primavera , here topped with roasted vegetables, and the spaghetti with a strong, zesty sauce of fresh tomatoes, basil and much garlic. Garlic, peppers, sun-dried tomatoes and anchovies are recurring accents on this menu, which makes quite a point of sharp, direct, unequivocal flavors.

The entree list leads off with sandwiches, including a rather nice barbecued beef on a sesame seed bun that features a fine, tangy sauce, a crab salad with avocado on nut bread and a steak sandwich dressed with onion confit , a sort of marmalade of lengthily stewed sliced onions. The hot dishes on the whole strike the most conservative note on the menu, although this is inconsistent: The listing of chicken breast in an orange-and-mustard-flavored cream sauce is followed by grilled marinated shrimp in a spicy, Thai-inspired sauce, served to the wonder of the world on a bed of mashed potatoes.

A plate of roast chicken basted with lemon had little character, and the cubed, vaguely herbed red potatoes that joined it seemed to have been stewed, a procedure that did them no great favor.

The grilled pork tenderloin seemed rather expertly done, however, and had a crusted exterior set off by a slightly pink, very moist center; a large spoonful of apricot chutney made an excellent garnish.

The Flemish beef stew was in some ways the most interesting entree sampled. This traditional dish calls for meat and onions to be braised in beer for hours; the result is an unbelievably rich product in which shredded meat and melted onion are nearly indistinguishable. The stew was very good, but siding it with the ubiquitous and also exceedingly rich mashed potatoes turned the plate into too much of a good thing--the items were overwhelmingly alike in both texture and richness.

An outside supplier caters the bulk of the dessert tray, although the house does make a smooth creme brulee and offers a couple of ice cream fantasies--a “trifle” dressed with Grand Marnier and assorted berries, and a combination of vanilla ice cream, Scotch and espresso coffee named “Marcella Hazan’s ice cream” in honor of the Italian cookbook author.

The wine list generally runs with the inexpensive neighborhood character of the place and presents one of the best moderate-priced selections in town. However, inveterate collector George Munger was unable to resist one very downtown gesture and stocked the bar with a remarkable selection of Cognacs, Armagnacs (there is even a 1935 Loubere at $28 a snifter) and other grand liqueurs; most cost well under $10 the glass.

CANES. 1270 Cleveland Ave. 299-3551

Breakfast, lunch and dinner served daily. Credit cards accepted. A meal for two,including a glass of wine each, tax and tip, $25 to $50.